82 OUR FARM CROPS. 



a temperature of 160 on the kiln is sufficient to destroy 

 the larvse. 



The caterpillar of the " little Grain-moth," Tinea gmn- 

 ella, is also very destructive in our stored corn. Indeed, 

 so ravenous is its appetite that the name of " wolf" is fre- 

 quently given to it. The moths abound in summer, and 

 frequent the buildings as well as the fields. They fly 

 about chiefly at dusk and at night, and having paired, 

 the female lays from fifty to sixty eggs, which she deposits 

 either singly or by twos on the grains of corn. From 

 these the larvae are hatched in the course of a few days, 

 and at once commence their work of destruction on the 

 corn. Frequently shifting the corn about destroys the 

 eggs and the young larvse. They are also got rid of by 

 currents of cold air passing over the floors ; or exposure 

 to a dry temperature of about 80, either in the sun or 

 on a kiln, will also kill them. 



Unhappily, there is a vast number of other insects 

 which prey upon our grain insects which have been and 

 still are daily introduced, in countless thousands, in the 

 foreign grain that is imported into this country. Some, 

 weak and delicate, sink before the coldness of our climate 

 at once; others, more hardy, manage to exist, and pro- 

 bably multiply their species ere our winter temperature 

 calls upon them to surrender their existence ; while others 

 again, whose habits enable them to withstand the lowest 

 temperatures of our climate, become naturalized, and thus 

 add another species to our list of enemies. In all cases, 

 cleanliness, ventilation of the buildings, and frequently 

 moving the stored corn, are recommended as antidotes to 

 this increasing evil. 1 Another remedy, too little thought 

 of, but quite within every farmer's reach, is the careful 



1 These insect enemies will be fouud more fully described in the Cyclopedia 

 of Agriculture, under their respective heads; in Curtis' Farm Insects, pub- 

 lished by Blackie & Son; and in Kirby and Spence's Entomology, published by 

 Longman and Co. 



